For many years, those working in the plumbing industry have required tools that would allow them to punch holes in steel studs and/or sheet metal to allow them to run plumbing pipe therethrough. The tools that have evolved for this purpose have had some drawbacks. One such drawback is that the hand operated punches have required a large amount of handle force to punch a large hole, i.e., one with a diameter of over two and a half inches. If the required handle force were reduced, the punch was usually not provided with enough travel to allow the punch to clear the stud.
The stud punch tool disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,647,630 overcame these drawbacks and quickly became accepted by the workforce. The stud punch tool disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,647,630, however, has a relatively complex link system to connect the upper handle to the lower frame. In addition, the upper handle is connected at the front, free end of the lower frame, which during punching, can cause the head portion to deflect as a result of the load transferred to the lower frame from the upper handle during a punching operation. Deflection of the head portion can cause the punch and die to mis-align, which can cause higher punch forces or stalling of the punching process due to binding. In addition, deflection of the head portion can cause damage to the punch and/or die. Morever, the provision of the link is costly from a manufacturing standpoint, as the link increases the number of parts required to form the stud punch tool.